Two EGHS students took two different paths, both leading toward excellence

Photo: David Pepin
East Greenwich High School Valedictorian, Han Xu and Salutatorian Julia Stevens.

By DAVID PEPIN

One was born in China, and didn’t arrive in East Greenwich until he was in third grade. The other has spent her entire live here.
But East Greenwich High School Class of 2011 Valedictorian Han Xu and Salutatorian Julia Stevens have plenty in common: high achievement, friendship, and some podium time coming up Sunday.

The class’ two top students will be recognized at this year’s commencement ceremony, to be held Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Providence Performing Arts Center.
The R.I. Academic Decathlon teammates whose resumes include a state championship last year and runner-up finish this year, as well as a run of Math Team division titles and National Honor Society membership, may have hit the books hard, but found plenty to remember fondly about their four years at EGHS.
“Our class has a lot of personality,” Stevens says. “It’s not normal for an Advanced Placement business class to break into applause when someone enters the room or does something.”
Xu, meanwhile, didn’t feel the pressure many other high school seniors to. Been there, done that.
“I wish I had planned my junior year a little better instead of overloading on the hard classes,” he says. “Senior year was much easier.”
Xu was also part of the school’s fledgling Science Olympiad team in his sophomore year. It improved to a top 10 finish last year, and sixth in the state this year.
Stevens has also participated on the school tennis and sailing teams, Drama Club and Gay-Straight Alliance. She also served as president of the Game Club.
Having attended many of their classes together, Xu and Stevens say the faculty members who influenced them were Math Team and Academic Decathlon adviser Frank Lenox, chemistry teacher Celia Schnack and French teacher Julie Barone.
Xu will attend Boston University’s seven-year medical program and plans a career in surgery or internal medicine. He is the son of Jianping Wu and Yu Wei Cang, who left China and originally settled in West Warwick before moving to East Greenwich. Much of his Chinese extended family, he says, now resides in New England.
Xu visits his homeland every two or three years, and always finds much changed.
“Whenever I’ve gone back, I’ve seen completely new buildings,” he says, adding little is left from his childhood.
Stevens won’t be going far to college: just up Route 95 to Brown University to study chemical engineering.\
“I’ve known most of my classmates since first grade, and never had to go through any big changes. When you grow up in the same town, you get to feel comfortable, but I’m ready for something new, even if it’s only 20 minutes away,” she says.
Xu says the sense of community is the most valuable asset he’ll take away from EGHS.
“You’re a small school, and getting to know everybody is something to cherish. You won’t have that again until you settle down,” he says.
Stevens says the greatest gift she’s received to use in the future is a sense of time management.
“For three straight semesters, I had all honors classes, and still got to bed by 10:30 each night,” she says.